2016

Prize

Trophy 2016, fragment of pulsar PSR B1257+12, Tomás Saraceno

The fourth Berlin Art Prize was awarded on the evening of December 10, 2016. Tomás Saraceno created a trophy from a fragment of the 2.4 billion-year-old crust of pulsar PSR B1257+12 A for the occasion, which was handed over to the three winners following the four-week exhibition featuring the artistic positions of all nine nominees for the Berlin Art Prize 2016. In addition to the trophy and prize money, the winners were invited to a one-month residency in Georgia organized by the Berlin Art Prize in cooperation with the CCA Tbilisi. This was the first year the jury honored the artistic practice of nominees and winners, rather than individual works as in previous years.

Jury

Winners

Stine Marie Jacobsen

“Stine Marie Jacobsen’s work represents to the jury the pinnacle of socially engaged art. With Stine’s disarming openness and positivity, her Law Shifters workshops engage children and various communities to rethink contemporary life, law and moral questions, opening our minds and hearts to social progress and cross-cultural understanding. Her artist books German For Artists and German for Newcomers formulate the humor of transcultural misunderstandings and linguistic difficulties from an idiosyncratic and fresh perspective.” – from the jury statement

Benedikt Partenheimer

“Benedikt Partenheimer applied to the Berlin Art Prize with Business as Usual, a proposal to print out thousands of pages of reports on climate change and install them on the floor and wall so that we could, quote, ‘Choose to ignore them while looking at art.’ Combining this installation with dramatic images of smoggy cityscapes in China, the jury was immediately drawn to Benedikt’s humorous, thoughtful and sincere approach to visualizing climate change.” – from the jury statement

Lauryn Youden

“Lauryn Youden bravely approaches a dauntingly personal topic that matters greatly amid increasingly trying times: mental health. Showing an incredible commitment to working with delicate material in the exhibition space, Lauryn created a participatory refuge that challenges us to consider our relationship to work, ambition and health. Her installation is a testament to the long history of marginalized alternatives to western medicine.” – from the jury statement

HONORABLE MENTION

Raul Walch

“Raul Walch’s dedication to the theme of communication and urgency amid the European refugee crisis made a strong impression on the jury. The brightly colored kites of Azimut, inspired by semaphore visual language and crafted using found materials, represent an inventive and empathetic response to dire social need.” – from the jury statement